


Inspirations

by shycatdreaming



Series: Inspired [1]
Category: Megamind (2010)
Genre: Drabbles, F/M, Humor, Short Fics, collection, inspired by things online, quick scenes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-26 14:25:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14404020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shycatdreaming/pseuds/shycatdreaming
Summary: Quick scenes or short fics from various inspirations. Just stuff that pops into my head when looking at things, primarily from Tumblr.





	1. Crushed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Megamind gets sent a fan-made video, but is crushed by it's contents...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by [Jonathan Coulton](https://www.jonathancoulton.com)'s song [Skullcrusher Mountain](https://wiki.jonathancoulton.com/Skullcrusher_Mountain).

_Megamind,_

_I know you mist grt a tone of emails, but I wanted to let you knoe I’ve always thought you were cool. And now that tou’re a hero, you’re even cooler!!! I made this, and I hope you like it._

Megamind smirked proudly as he moved to click the provided link. One of the advantages of the entire “good guy” thing was being able to have a public e-mail address, and it was always gratifying to receive fan mail. That simple pleasure had always seemed impossible, that there would be nothing the citizenry would find appealing about a blue genius alien. And now, on a daily basis, he was provided evidence that it was not only possible but now true! If he’d known this, he would have been more serious sooner about killing Metro Mahn and taking over his position! 

(not really, of course. it was a miracle people had been willing to move beyond that particular incident, and quite frankly just turning good right away would have been much easier.) 

He settled back in his chair as the video loaded, still smirking in delight that he was now loved. 

As the video played, his smile weakened. Then dropped entirely. Then was replaced by a look of horror. 

“ROXANNE!!!” 

* * *

Roxanne continued to stare at the blank screen after the video ended to give her a moment to consider what she was going to say to the boyfriend hovering anxiously over her shoulder. 

To be perfectly honest, she’d enjoyed it. It had actually been very well edited, in time with the music and the lyrics, and she especially liked all the footage of her that had been used. The repeated weary exasperation from multiple televised kidnappings contrasted well with the lyrics insisting she was hysterical, and the fan had found quite a good number of eye rolls to utilize. The footage of Megamind himself had also been spot on, alternatively suavely evil and energetically incompetent. 

But she could also definitely see why it would have upset him, and as his significant other it was her responsibility to calm him down. 

“Megamind, it doesn’t mean anything. They weren’t trying to be mean. It was a…” 

She considered her words, especially when faced with a Megamind who looked literally a second away from crying. “A joke” wasn’t exactly accurate, and he was going to take it to mean HE was the joke. 

“It was something fans do. They make videos like these. It shows they like you.” 

“But it was about a VILLIAN!” 

Roxanne had to nod, not completely able to keep the smirk off her face; of COURSE it had been. 

“But I’m a GOOD GUY now!” he whined. There was not other way of describing it, he was whining. 

“But you have to admit, on the surface, it really DOES match what you used to do…” 

His eyes widened in abject horror. “Is that what people thought? That I was some schizophrenic psychopath??” 

(seriously, how was it Megamind was able to pronounce “schizophrenic” and still made his home city rhyme with “atrocity”?) 

“No, no, of course not!” Well, except the real crackpots, of course. “The song itself isn’t about you, it’s just CLOSE.” 

His eyes flickered for a second, contemplating… 

She gave him stern look. “If it had been written about you, they would have talked about brainbots, not wolves.” 

He thought for a second, quiet, and then nodded that he accepted her point. 

She gestured back to the computer monitor. “It’s just an exaggeration, a joke. The song KIND OF sounds like what you used to do to me, so they make a video about what it would have looked like if it HAD been like that.” 

Megamind pouted. “But I don’t WANT people to be thinking about me like that! I don’t WANT people to joke about how I used to be a villain! I want them to LIKE me!” 

She sighed fondly, because of course that was what this really was, and of course that’s what he was having trouble understanding. “But I told you, they DO. They wouldn’t make stuff like this if they really THOUGHT you were like that! They’d be too SCARED to!” 

At his continued defeated face, she pulled him into a hug. “People spend time making videos about you because they LIKE you, because they have an idea and they want to share it. They see you laughing and having fun and they want to join in on it. So they make jokes, they share with you the things THEY find funny, the things they enjoy. They do it because you inspire them.” 

She pulled back to find Megamind still frowning sadly, so she stroked him gently on the cheek. “They do it because you give them something good, and they want to give back.” 

“But I don’t want them to think about me as a villain,” he repeated. “I want them to think of me as a hero now!” 

Roxanne gave a small sigh, exasperated but full of love. “Well, I do.” 

That brightened him up. “You do?” 

She grinned, and rubbed her nose against his. “Yep.” 

She could feel his cheeks tighten as his smile widened. “Well, yes, of course you do.” 

“And after all,” she smirked, trying to keep the mood light, “in the end it worked.” She gestured back to the computer screen and the video about a guy kidnapping a girl to win her affections. 

Megamind shook his head, but he looked much happier. “Nah-ah, it wasn’t that.” 

She raised her eyebrow, silently asking for clarification, but continued to smile back. 

“It was me acting like a re-sPEC-table normal person!” 

She laughed, knowing there was truth to both. “Respectable, maybe. Normal?” She leaned in to rub his nose again. “Never.” 

* * *

“Seriously, it’s not like I ever actually tried to blow up the world.” 

“‘All the fools who lead their foolish lives’?” 

“Ok, that bit I’ll give you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That… Got a little more meaningful at the end than I was expecting. Wow.
> 
> So, enjoy an accidental commentary on the power of fan creations!
> 
> PS: I typed the fan’s email on my phone’s keyboard, and I tried to leave it as much as-is as possible for authenticity. But I still needed to edit slightly so it didn’t look SO bad.


	2. Emotions Beneath the Sky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by this gorgeous shot of rolling clouds, called [“Emotions of the sky”](https://imgur.com/gallery/oq0W61a).

Five years. 

Sometimes, Roxanne simply couldn’t comprehend that fact. Five years ago today things had been so different. 

Sometimes it feels like no time at all had passed. Other times, it felt too far away to even be remembered. 

She settled back on her padded and comfy chair, 228 and a few other particularly snuggly brainbots a glassy cuddle puddle on her lap. The clouds continued to roll across above her brilliant and dangerous and soft. 

Five years. 

Five years ago today she would be down there, reporting on something like this. But that would have been five years ago; now, she was satisfied simply to lay back away from the crowd and watch. 

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been up on the roof in total, but it had been long enough for the ceremony itself to be over. There was the sound of non-cybernetic movement behind her, but she was too comfy to tip her head around to look and just waited for him to come over. 

“Five years,” she said aloud. The words didn’t make the reality any more real. 

Her husband chuckled as he came up beside her. “You’d think by now I’d be used to the crowds.” He’d be fine for most of it, caught up in the presentation and the spectacle, but then all of a sudden the fact that the adoring faces were directed at HIM would hit and the panic would set in. He’d gotten better about hiding it from them, but even now he’d need a friendly moment alone to recenter and accept that yes, this was real, and yes, it was ok. 

Roxanne shifted over in her chair, the brainbots hovering slightly to allow their Daddy to snuggle in beside their Mommy, then flomped down in a tangle of mechanical limbs on both their laps. She shifted to rest her head on his shoulder, letting him rest his larger one on hers. 

“Did they like it?” 

Megamind laughed. “You would have thought I was giving them all ponies.” Even underneath his face she could perfectly imagine how he was beaming, brighter than the clouds above them. 

Together they watched his anniversary spectacular, his colors boiling through the generated clouds. It would take several hours for them to dissipate entirely, bathing Metro City in blue and green and hope until then. 

Until then, though, two people watched cuddled together, happy in the memory of the past five years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 228 (and the pony reference) borrowed from [Set](https://archiveofourown.org/users/setepenre_set)'s fic [Code: Safe Word](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6115417/chapters/14016871). (Warning: Many chapters NSFW and unmarked! But a wonderful story with lots of romance, slow burn, plots for the sake of good, and wonderful brainbots!)


	3. Corona

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxanne has an idea for a trick photograph, if she can get her boyfriend to cooperate...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by a [series of beautiful long exposure photographs](http://reubenwu.com/projects/22/lux-noctis) by [Reuben Wu](http://reubenwu.com/home).

“Roxanne, this is INSANE.” 

“Just stand still.” 

Megamind stood still, arms crossed and pouting, and his girlfriend poked her head from behind her camera stand to scowl at him. 

“I am SERIOUS. Look NICE.” 

He jolted slightly at her tone, but when she saw she’d startled him she gave him a sweet smile. 

“Look nice.” 

Helpless before her smile he struck a pose, looking off in the distance (he wouldn’t have been able to hold it if he was looking at her). He kept his arms close to his body, one hand contemplative on his chin, and took a “thinking about ways to improve Metrocity for the good of his beloved citizens” expression. 

And waited. And waited. And waited while a brainbot literally buzzed a circle above his head with a light suspended below it. 

Suddenly Roxanne burst into a cackle, making him jump. “Got it!” 

She did something with the display on her digital camera, then turned it to face him. 

He gaped. 

“Well, you are from the heavens after all, hero. I figured you deserved a halo.”


	4. Socially Unacceptable Crocodiles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Megamind has a brilliant idea for how to help troubled youth! Unfortunately, Roxanne must gently crush his dreams of ridable crocodiles...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This started with a [Tumblr thread](https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/ebonykain/172940460043) about accidentally becoming an expert at crocodiles.  
> I piped up:  
>  _I need to figure out how to accidentally incorporate crocodiles into working with children with behavior and emotional issues._  
>  _While living in Minnesota. Or use said discovery as an excuse to move to Florida._  
>  Which got this response from [joanhello2](http://joanhello2.tumblr.com/post/173102669946/shycatdreaming-vastderp-relentlesslygayy):  
>  _I don’t know how you would do this IRL but as a writer you could definitely have Megamind do it. Like after he turns good, he admits that his alligators are really crocodiles and starts doing demonstrations about the character and care of large reptiles all over the region, always bringing one or two crocs along to get his listeners’ interest. He notices that a certain kind of troubled kid is really drawn to them and, the next thing anyone knows, he has invented therapy crocodiles and there’s a program._
> 
>  
> 
> The rest is my fault.

Roxanne rubbed her eyes and tried to relax. Megamind wasn’t TRYING to give her a headache, it was just - happening. 

“I really do understand what you’re trying to do, but making horse-sized crocodiles just is NOT a good idea.” 

Her husband turned his huge, stunning green eyes on her, a full on puppy face in his disappointment. 

“But…!” 

“Yes, I am WELL aware of the prehistoric precedent [1].” 

“But…!” 

“Yes, I am also well aware of riding therapy for troubled youth [2].” 

Megamind’s pout grew bigger, but his voice was weaker. “But…” 

She sighed in honest sympathy, rubbing his shoulder soothingly. “The program is running well right now. The kids are doing great, the publicity for the crocodiles is really helping, and you’re even managing to create some good groundwork for research into animal therapies [3]!” 

He managed to give her a weak but hopeful smile at that encouragement. 

“But people just aren’t ready for crocodiles to be any bigger than they already are. There’s a REASON people haven’t domesticated large carnivores [4].” 

There was a tiny bit of a petulant whine in his voice when Megamind replied, “I could.” 

“I know, sweetie. Maybe someday.” 

That perked him up. “Promise?” 

“No.” 

* * *

1\. <https://ourplnt.com/worlds-top-six-biggest-prehistoric-crocodiles-ever-lived/>

2\. <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equine-assisted_therapy>

3\. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4495515/> I personally can see some great benefits to the use of Animal-Assisted Interventions, but the fact remains the current research is weak 

4\. <https://www.livescience.com/33870-domesticated-animals-criteria.html>

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #fics with references


	5. Temporary Port

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Megamind has found the perfect temporary evil lair! Now, just to run a few tests before starting his latest evil scheme...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is from an [image writing prompt,/a> from ](https://writing-prompt-s.tumblr.com/post/173212701245/image-prompt)[@writing-prompt-s](https://writing-prompt-s.tumblr.com/). The prompt was for a black Microsoft computer keyboard, leaning up against a wall and apparently plugged into a USB charger in a wall socket.

Pretty much literally the last place ANYONE would expect Megamind to be at that moment was in a modest but respectable hotel room. 

“Are we ready, Minion?” 

“Just a LITTLE bit more…” The fish tipped the extended mirror he’d put out the window to keep track of the brainbots as they continued to attach boxes around the exterior walls of the building. 

That no one imagined Megamind would USE a hotel, let alone be ABLE to, spoke to just how limited the imaginations of the mindless drones truly were. All that was required was to order a room online to ensure it would be empty, then hack the card key lock while the hallway was clear and PRESTO! Instant temporary evil lair! 

There was even complimentary coffee! 

“And…that’s…IT!” Minion signaled that the brainbots had completed their work, and Megamind let out a delighted evil cackle. 

“Excellent! Metro Mahn and the sheep of Met-raw-city will FINALLY bow down to my superior intellect and attractiveness!” 

Double checking everything, he got ready to begin typing test phrases into the keyboard propped up on the floor. 

It was attached to the wall socket through what looked like an ordinary USB charger, which actually had only needed to be modified SLIGHTLY. Each key press was converted into a pulse that would vary the AC electricity traveling through the wires, which would THEN be picked up by the cleverly constructed boxes now attached to the hotel walls. From THOSE, the true fun would start! 

He was interrupted from his tests, however, by a groan from behind him. 

“Aahh?” 

Megamind abandoned his keyboard to quickly find a suitably dramatic pose against the wall for his hostage to see upon awakening. 

“Aahh?” Roxanne blinked, which didn’t help much, being how that ACCURSED bag was AGAIN over her head! Seriously, Megamind called himself a master villain when he STILL used a potato sack as a major element of his kidnappings? 

Megamind waited for her response, only to finally realize what the problem was. He scowled at Minion and gestured with his head to the offending item. With a gasp, the mechanically-outfited fish rushed over remove it from to the reporter. 

It spoke to Megamind’s sense of presentation that he was back in his carefully composed position when Roxanne was able to focus on him. 

“Megamind!” Her voice balanced irritation, boredom and indifference. “What are you…” She paused, realizing something was - different. 

“Ah, Miss Ritchi! Are you enjoying your accommodations? You always have SUCH cruel words for when you - visit - us, I decided to arrange for something more comfortable for you!” 

Roxanne looked down, and yes, what she had been feeling apparently was reality. She was sitting on a BED, pillows behind her back and tied arms propping her upright against the headboard. 

Well, she’d give him this, it WAS more comfortable that that chair. Except her legs were already starting to feel the strain of being stretched out like that. 

But there were more important things to deal with, first. 

Like taking advantage of the IMPOSSIBLY perfect opportunity provided to her by her frequent kidnapper. 

“So, you had to go out of your WAY to arrange a clandestine hotel rendezvous for us?” She arched an eyebrow expertly, her voice adding that extra ounce of innuendo to her question. 

Megamind gaped, his mind racing with her implication - no, that particular interpretation had NOT occurred to him when he’d planned on using the hotel! 

Minion, meanwhile, just gasped in horrified offense that Miss Ritchi would even SUGGEST such a thing! 

He assumed, of course, that the purple blush gracing his master’s blue face was similarly motivated. 

Roxanne stroked a calf across the bedspread, as though testing the fabric. “I will admit, you got me a VERY nice BED for our middle of the day - tryst.” 

“THIS IS NOT A TRYST!” Megamind practically yelled, eyes wide, desperately trying to bury the ideas his brilliant mind was attempting to overwhelm him with at this - TEMPTRESS’S - words. “NOT! A! TRYST!!” 

Roxanne simply looked at him, her eyebrow still raised, her expression one of polite disbelief. 

And she did NOT wish that Minion wasn’t there in the room with them. She did NOT want to push this particular line of banter. And it was just banter, part of the villain/damsel dynamic, not reverse reverse psychology… 

Megamind managed to pull himself together with a few deep breaths. “This is NOT a tryst. This is an EVIL PLAN. Evil! Not - THAT!” 

Roxanne switched eyebrows, still not appearing to be convinced. 

“That this is a - private room is a mere COINCIDENCE! It is NOT an - implication - of - anything! And Minion is RIGHT HERE, it’s not as if we’re ALONE!!” 

She turned to face the hench-fish, who nodded his entire body in the dome of his gorilla suit. 

Turning back to the supervillain, she asked, “And what kind of evil plan requires a hotel, do I dare provide an opening for monologue?” 

Feeling desperate for the plan to be back on - well, plan, Megamind reached down to pick up his keyboard, accidentally pulling the plug out of the wall charger. 

(He would blame Minion, later, for this part not being prepared and presented properly, the keyboard was on the GROUND for evil heaven’s sake! This was DEFINITELY Minion’s fault, and he would be blaming him for it later!) 

Roxanne just smirked and waited for him to fumble the USB cord back into place, turning it around three times trying to make it fit. 

It wasn’t significant that she wasn’t insulting him about this mishap. It wasn’t. She just was waiting for him to make ACTUAL mistakes, ones that were the result of his PLAN, not everyday things everyone did. It wasn’t like she wasn’t trying to actually hurt his feelings… 

It wasn’t like she wasn’t secretly hoping the cord would break, and Minion would have to go get a new one, and she and Megamind would be left ALONE in a hotel room she definitely wasn’t thinking about that definitely definitely not… 

“Ah HA!” Megamind stood up almost all the way again, having to crouch to make sure the keyboard didn’t become unplugged again. 

(The short cord was ALSO unquestionably Minion’s fault, seriously Minion needed to take his job more seriously…) 

Roxanne resumed raising her eyebrow, taking in the unimpressive sight of a black keyboard plugged apparently pointlessly into a hotel wall. 

THIS was acceptable nitpicking. 

“You’ve converted a hotel room into an IoT hotspot. How evil!” 

Megamind cackled at her naiveté. “Oh, my dear Miss Ritchi, it is SO much more than that! Allow me to demonstrate!” 

And he ran a hand over the keyboard. 

* * *

It was totally Minion’s fault. He hadn’t used enough Knockout Spray on Miss Ritchi, which is why she woke up too early, which is why he hadn’t been able to test the system. 

If he’d been able to run some tests, it DEFINITELY would have worked!!! 

Megamind sulked against the hood of the police car, wrapped up tight in some metal Metro Moron had found somewhere. He’d been too busy having to deal with the fire, and so his capture of Megamind had been faster and a touch rougher than normal. 

Being how the fire had been COMPLETELY accidental, and the capture had also coincidentally RESCUED Megamind from said fire, it was acceptable and he would not be complaining about it. 

Except for adding it to the list of things Minion was responsible for. 

Something had gone wrong with the AC pulses; nevertheless, it wouldn’t have been a DESTRUCTIVE disaster if it hadn’t turned out the hotel had been constructed of some less-than-fire-safety-compliant materials. 

Given that the evil plot had been done during the middle of the week and the middle of the day (all the better for getting into the room unseen, and coincidentally meaning most of the hotel was empty of guests) only Roxanne has also required actual rescuing. 

(As Minion’s suit was QUITE fire proof and QUITE capable of getting out of shoddily-build walls, he’d been able to escape easily enough on his own.) 

Now, the city’s most brilliant reporter (only slightly soot covered) was cornering the hotel’s owner in front of a camera and relentlessly questioning the poor but deserving man about exactly WHY his hotel had turned out to be such a fire trap, and exactly HOW this was obviously their responsibility, and how this would OBVIOUSLY mean that the few possessions damaged by the few guests in the fire they OBVIOUSLY held culpability in was OBVIOUSLY going to be their responsibility to replace. 

This time, Megamind was perfectly content with letting the headline story be about someone else’s incompetence rather than his own. That entire experience had been WAY too close for comfort. 

From now on, no more one-day-only temporary evil lairs. Next time, they would have to live up to HIS standards.


	6. Inked In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> @cannibalisticshadows:  
> Hey Megamind fandom,  
> what if Megamind has prision tats?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is [cannibalisticshadows](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cannibalisticshadows/pseuds/cannibalisticshadows)'s fault. I am angry at her.*

“And THIS is the chemical composition of Nitroglycerin!” 

Roxanne nodded, her mouth covered by her hand in what she hoped looked like serious and reserved interest. 

What it really was was her trying desperately not to laugh. 

In all honesty, they were impressive. He’d managed to get a few on his back, but even they looked perfect despite the impossible dexterity and use of mirrors it must have entailed. 

“And Minion really didn’t help you with this?” 

“No, he didn’t approve at ALL. And his suit at the time wouldn’t have had the control necessary for this.” 

Trust Megamind. Only Megamind. 

Only Megamind would have science based prison tattoos. That were all weapon based.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A list of potential tattoos can be found [here](https://shycatdreaming.tumblr.com/post/173274044107/cannibalisticshadows-shycatdreaming).  
> * Of course I’m not really angry at cannibalisticshadows. It’s not her fault my imagination refuses to listen to me.


End file.
